Appliance Design - March 2009 - (Page 17)

POWER a wireless sensor mounted on a Powercast rechargeable battery board. In this scenario, the wireless sensor approaches battery free operation, while gaining all its power via Powercast RF wireless power distribution. at a rapid pace. In 2007, for the Christmas season, the company debuted a Christmas tree with wirelessly powered LEDs. By 2008, Powercast completed more than 20 projects spanning the range of RF wireless power possibilities, including near field, far field, and ambient power harvesting. In doing so, they discovered that while near field represented an initial business opportunity, the ease of entry into that market segment would “marginalize their technological advantages,” says Day. Instead, Powercast has chosen to focus on far-field powering, in the form of low-power, wireless sensor networks that can be deployed in networks of tens to hundreds of units, he says. At the 2009 CES, they displayed this idea with a hotel room concept. This application combined recharging of multiple, dissimilar remote-control devices and demonstrated how they can work with wireless sensor networks to automate a hotel room. To make integration easier, the company has packaged its technology into a Lifetime Power Evaluation and Development Kit. The kit features the Powerharvester Module and the Powercaster Module and is meant to provide developers with all the tools they need to “design-in” the RF wireless power technology into their products, says Day. With the kit, a designer or engineer can self-discover RF wireless power, and because of the boards included, designers can even complete rapid prototyping with the technology. This is meant to stimulate an entirely new wave of differentiated electronics, he says. Other companies are looking to stimulate this potential new market through wireless power transfer technology that combines the long distance benefits of the broadcast method with the higher power capabilities of inductive coupling. In 2008, a group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a separate group at Intel, demonstrated prototype wireless power transfer technologies that use inductive resonant coupling. The technology is meant for near-field, mid-field, and far-field applications. The theory of resonant coupling is that two coils resonating at the same frequency tend to exchange energy efficiently, while interacting weakly with other fields tuned to different resonances. To efficiently transfer the energy, the technology relies on strongly coupled resonators. Marin Soljacic, associate professor of physics at MIT, has overseen the institution’s work Contain.Control. Conquer. Suppress EMI/RFI. ■ X & Y Caps: To 110o C Compact – Advanced Technology Start and run efficiently. ■ Motor Run Caps: Compact Cost Effective – Custom Designs Call 800-888-7729 www.epcos.com/capacitors www.applianceDESIGN.com AD03094Epcos2.indd 1 applianceDESIGN March 2009 17 1/15/09 1:06:50 PM http://www.epcos.com/capacitors http://www.epcos.com/capacitors http://www.appliancedesign.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Appliance Design - March 2009

Appliance Design - March 2009 Contents Editorial Shipments/Forecasts News Watch Transmitting Power Wirelessly Promises to Reduce the Ever-Growing Tangle of Cords and Cables Found in the Modern Home. There Are Different Technological Approaches for Achieving this Goal, and Some Are Already on the Market. Electrochemical Capacitors Can Provide an Extra Peak-Power Boost in Battery-Operated Appliances, Allowing Product Designs to Have Smaller Battery Packs. Metallic Foams Put the Properties of Metals into Lightweight Packages. Applications for this Emerging Technology Include Gas Burners, Heat Exchangers, and Electronics Housings. Hall-Effect Switches Are Compact and Provide a High Degree of Reliability and Durability as They Virtually Eliminate Mechanical Wear, Shock, and Contact Oxidation. Blowing Agents for Polyurethane Foam Insulation Face Increased Scrutiny Due to Global Warming Concerns, but Alternatives with Lower GWP Values May Provide Solutions to Meet These Challenges. Design Marts Association Report: AHAM Advertisers' Index

Appliance Design - March 2009

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